


the sorcery we most required

by possibilityleft



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Character Deaths Due to Old Age, Everyone Loves Sakura, F/M, First Kiss, Gen, Growing Old Together, Old Lost Loves, Post-Canon, Treat, learning to love again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26934754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/possibilityleft
Summary: After everyone else has passed away, Sakura still has Yue, and Yue still has Sakura.
Relationships: Clow Reed/Yue (Past/Implied), Keroberos | Cerberus & Kinomoto Sakura & Yue, Kinomoto Sakura/Li Syaoran (Past), Kinomoto Sakura/Yue, Kinomoto Touya/Tsukishiro Yukito (Past)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	the sorcery we most required

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anaraine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anaraine/gifts).



> The title is from [Marriage of Many Years](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91768/marriage-of-many-years) by Dana Gioia, which I feel like is a perfect poem for Sakura/Yue.

There was no such thing as certainty, even when you could see the future sometimes. Yue knew this was true. Before waking from the Book of Clow, Yue had mourned his lost master, his dreams full of despair as the magic slowly leaked away. Clow had promised them forever, but he couldn't fight his destiny.

And then Yue woke up. Cerberus seemed so blase about starting over with a new master, so pleased with his choice, a magician still a child. Yue found himself unable to talk about it. His old master had known him, quiet but warm. To Sakura, he was polite but could be nothing but cold. What was the point of such attachments? Surely she would give him up to another master someday, so why should he love her?

He stayed, of course. He did his duty and he cared for her and he fought for her, and she smiled. She worried about him. Clow, for all his affections, had never done that.

Yue watched Yukito with Touya, and he was glad that Yukito didn't know him, not really. Yukito need not be saddled with Yue's concerns. The false form had grown into his own person, somehow, and Yue doubted Clow had expected that either, but here they were.

It wasn't until much later that he truly accepted that Sakura did things differently.

*

She grew as humans did, and sometimes they fought other magicians who challenged her, and he threw himself into the work.

"What would I do without you, Yue?" she would say sometimes, reaching out to brush his sleeve, and she never seemed offended when he pulled away.

So it was. Syaoran came back from Hong Kong, and later, they married, and still Yue stayed. Even after the children were born, sometimes he was needed. Quite a bit for a while there, when Sakura's oldest daughter was young and her magic unfocused. He thought that girl would become his new master -- that Sakura was planning just as Clow had planned -- and he tried to like her. He would always protect her, of course.

But the girl grew up and went away to build her own life. Eventually, Touya tired, and after he was gone, Yukito chose to sleep in the back of Yue's mind.

Eventually, it was just the three of them: Sakura, Yue, and Cerberus.

*

Clow had lived in an enormous English-style house with a big lawn for privacy. He rarely received visitors, and didn't often travel. There'd been a reason, at first, that witch that Yue hadn't liked, but after a while, it just became normal for them to be alone.

Sakura lived still in the house she grew up in. Each morning when she rose, she changed the flowers in the kitchen and whispered a prayer to her loved ones. She had a picture there of Touya with Yukito, from years ago when Touya's hair was just starting to gray, Touya with his arm draped around Yukito's neck, the two of them laughing. Yue made sure there was no dust on any of the frames.

She never asked him to do house chores, but somehow he'd fallen into the habit. It wasn't as if Cerberus were any good at it. He spent most of his time in his false form creating more dishes for Sakura to wash. When Yue tried to scold him, he only laughed or teased.

Sakura's house was always full of life. She had long friendships with the shopkeepers at the market, changing her appearance every few years to avoid too much suspicion. She let schoolchildren into their library for research, and sometimes Yue could hear their peals of laughter even from his room, which had been Touya's room once. He told Sakura he didn't need his own space, but he did like having it after he got used to it. Sometimes he needed room for meditation.

Sometimes Sakura met with other magicians -- Eriol occasionally visited, and there were others who came to consult or ask her advice -- but at the end of the day it was always just the three of them. Yue often came downstairs to watch her cook in the evening and listen to her talk about the day. Sometimes she coaxed him out into the grass afterwards and he felt the blades scratchy on his feet as they watched the moon rise.

Sakura chopped a carrot with now practiced hands, her sleeves tied up at the elbow, humming to herself. She'd grown tall like her father and brother, her eyes still bright green and curious, her face serene. He was standing on the opposite side of the counter from her, looking into the kitchenette from the dining room.

"What would you like to do tonight, Yue?" she asked him. She asked him every night, even though he rarely said anything. Sakura had always, from the start, treated him like his own person.

As if she could sense him staring, she paused and turned to look at him, smiling. The knot in his chest loosened again, and finally fell away.

"Whatever you'd like," he said, which is what he always said. She put down the knife and washed her hands in the sink, and then leaned over the counter between them, resting her hand on his cheek. She still smelled a little like soap, and carrots, and he shut his eyes, leaning forward. It felt like she had been waiting on him to realize he was happy. It felt like he had waited so long.

But still she kissed him back without hesitation, her other hand reaching up to tangle in his hair, and at last, he stopped counting the hours they had left, and started enjoying them.


End file.
